The Behind-the-Scenes Rainmakers of Andrew Cuomo’s Campaign

What do Anthony Scaramucci, Harvey Weinstein’s attorney, and a New York City councilor accused of biting a cop at an anti-homeless shelter protest all have in common?

They’re among the dozens of people Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign has so far enlisted to fundraise on its behalf, according to records reviewed by New York Focus.

The campaign has created at least 64 public fundraising web pages for people or entities to raise money for the former governor. At least 10 of them are listed in a city database of lobbyists and government contractors whose campaign finance activities are restricted.

City campaign finance law requires candidates to disclose people who fundraise on their behalf, known as bundlers or intermediaries. The disclosures shed light on how money is funneled into campaigns and who may be gaining favor with politicians. There are caps on how much a person can donate directly to a campaign, but not on how much they can fundraise for a candidate. A prodigious fundraiser may gain clout with an elected official.

Intermediary disclosure can also affect whether donations are eligible for public matching funds. Money raised by people on the city’s Doing Business list, which includes lobbyists and top officials at firms with government contracts, is ineligible for the city’s $8-to-$1 matching program.

Because it’s largely up to campaigns to report intermediaries and flag funds eligible for matching, money that doesn’t qualify may fly under the radar. (The New York City Campaign Finance Board, which is in charge of enforcing the law, can ask campaigns about donations that it suspects were raised by intermediaries.)

At least 10 people with the Cuomo fundraising web pages are registered as having business interests before the New York City government, including the three undisclosed intermediaries identified by New York Focus last week. The web pages Cuomo’s campaign set up for them incorrectly stated that their fundraising would be matched.

The Cuomo campaign has the ability to alter its fundraising pitch if an intermediary is barred from raising matchable contributions. It did not do so in those instances. Rachel Harding, a campaign compliance attorney for Cuomo, said that “boilerplate language” had been used for these pitches.

During the previous mayoral election, then-candidate Eric Adams repeatedly ignored requests from the Campaign Finance Board to disclose suspected intermediaries. Some of those undisclosed intermediaries were eventually the subject of federal investigations into the campaign. Even so, his campaign was granted millions in public matching funds.

The former governor’s political comeback has been buoyed by strong fundraising from his political network, including from the taxpayer-funded attorneys who have defended him against numerous corruption and sexual harassment allegations. During the mayoral race’s most recent campaign fundraising period — the first since Cuomo announced his bid in early March — the former governor reported raising more than any other contender.

Despite the volume of fundraising, Cuomo’s was the only campaign not to disclose any intermediaries aside from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who only announced her campaign a week before the filing deadline.

The Cuomo campaign has access to information showing who has contributed through each donation page it set up. Any intermediaries it identified should have been reported in last week’s filings.

The Cuomo campaign argues that’s not how intermediary reporting plays out in practice. The campaign said it relies on forms that bundlers fill out, which it then submits to the Campaign Finance Board.

“Intermediary forms are in the process of being collected and will be filed with the New York City campaign finance board in a timely manner,” Harding told New York Focus last week. “As a matter of practice, the Board understands that intermediaries will likely get identified later in modifications when the campaign gets the returned forms.”

Intermediary rules are rife with loopholes, according to good government groups, including Reinvent Albany, making them a weak link in the city campaign finance system.